The journey of one child diagnosed with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy.

Blog posts by mommy Shana and mommy Jess

Three children, two moms, one C.P. diagnosis....and a partridge in a pear tree.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Moving and Shaking by mommy Jess

Well dear readers we have a good reason for neglecting our blog for so long because at the end of this month we will no longer be Midwesterners but will become New Englanders. From the large public university to the small private, I have thrust this family into a world of change.

In the past 60 days or so we’ve had a garage sale, did tons of house stuff to get our house on the market, sold it (YAY!) for less than we paid for it (BOO!) but just by a little (YAY?). I’ve written my comprehensive exams, we’ve packed up our house, and we are now waiting for a giant moving van to show up on August 1st and take us away from the place we’ve called home for the past six years.

Moving is bittersweet. With the packing of each room so many memories come flooding back. That first day we turned the key into our very own home. An excited shout down our stairs waving a pregnancy test with two pink lines. The ultrasound that led to the assembly of not one but two cribs. In what seemed like the blink of an eye the change of our baby Jack into a real boy who climbed trees and knew about big boy things like Spiderman and football. The excitement (and horror) of watching my stomach grow and grow and grow. The late nights spent watching reruns of “Three’s Company” (seriously folks that show is really dirty, look into it) while attending to two crying newborns. The tears we cried when we began the long journey to Greta’s diagnosis. The fear we felt and the questions that were, and are, left unanswered hanging always on our shoulders. The hours of therapy, the constant heartache of playing “what if”, and the isolation of being so utterly alone. The arguments, the making up, the laughing, the playing hide and seek, the flowers we picked, the turtle that came by once a year to sun itself on our porch, the thunderstorm that blew our tree down, the dancing in our kitchen during dinner, all of it. The family we were and are started here.

So goodbye little yellow house. It is hard to let it go, but I’ve run my hands over these walls in a silent farewell and a wish of peace and happiness for the new family who will live here and make their own memories in this space.

And after a family meeting that ended with Gus biting Greta in the back, Greta yanking out a handful of Gus’s hair and Jack refusing to remove the skin tight pajamas he’d been wearing for a week we decided against the serial casting I mentioned in the past post, at least until we can get settled in our new home town. We realized that adding that particular adventure in medicine will just have to wait but we promise to keep you posted on Greta’s progress in the future. Right now she is still struggling with her foot turning out and her hand tightening, and after a failed attempt at part-time daycare we decided she would just have to help mommy Shana pack during the day. And by help I mean play with her dolls, unpack packed boxes and demand various snacks and other entertainment all day long. So shall it be for a few more weeks when we can report back on our new lives across the country.

About Us

Mommy Shana and mommy Jess are the parents to three awesome kids, Jack (5), and three year old twins Greta and Gus. Greta has left-sided hemiplegic cerebral palsy with mixed tone. Mommy Shana is a stay at home mom about to go back to grad school and mommy Jess is a higher education administrator. Our hobbies include watching marathons of The Office and trying to stay sane in rural New England where we recently moved from the buckle of the bible belt. We write about our kids, of course, but mostly about mothering and disability and all the messy stuff in between. We try to be as open and honest as possible because to do anything less would be unfair to everyone facing the daily challenges of disability.